


Take a Deep Breath

by blazeofglory



Category: Les Misérables - All Media Types
Genre: Alternate Universe - College/University, Alternate Universe - Modern Setting, Cosette Fauchelevent & Grantaire Friendship, F/F, Truth or Dare
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-11-29
Updated: 2014-11-29
Packaged: 2018-02-27 09:13:35
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,571
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/2687300
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/blazeofglory/pseuds/blazeofglory
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>College is big and scary, and Cosette just wants to make it through the first week.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Take a Deep Breath

**Author's Note:**

> This was written for the Multifandom Femslash Exchange on tumblr, but whoever runs that blog never posted it. 
> 
> I love writing Cosette, I think she's absolutely adorable. Just a warning though, some background pairings (which are really only ever mentioned in passing) are: Enjolras/Combeferre, Courfeyrac/Marius, Jehan/Grantaire, and Bossuet/Musichetta (who haven't met Joly yet.)

“Cosette, hey!”

Cosette stopped in her tracks, turning to the vaguely familiar boy sitting under the shade of a tree, a book in his lap. She raised her hand in half a wave, then headed over, curious where he must know her from. When she got closer, she realized—oh! It was Marius, her buddy from orientation a few weeks ago.

“Hey, Marius,” she finally responded, pausing next to the tree. The redhead smiled up at her, and just as she was thinking that he was much too cute to be a real person, she noticed the girl next to him. The girl also had a book in her lap and had yet to look up; all Cosette could see of her face was a delicate nose; the rest was hidden by long, dark hair. “Who’s your friend?”

The girl looked up, and Cosette’s breath caught in her throat. This girl was—she was—wow. She had dark brown eyes, emphasized by even darker eyeliner, and her lips were some dark shade of red, and they curled into a smile when their eyes met. “Eponine,” she supplied, her voice turning out to be just as lovely as her face.

“We’re friends from high school,” Marius added, prompting Cosette to turn back to him and stop ogling his friend. She smiled and nodded, then turned back to Eponine.

“You’re a freshman too?” she asked, surprise evident in her voice. She looked… older than them. Much more mature.

Eponine just shrugged. “I look old next to Marius, but that’s just because his baby face makes him look twelve.”

Marius sputtered and protested in outrage while Cosette laughed, then glanced down at her watch. “It was great meeting you, but I have to go to class. I’ll see you around?”

Eponine nodded, and a blushing Marius promised to text her.

As she walked away, Cosette pulled out her phone and beat Marius to it.

**Cosette (12:03):** Can you do me a favor?

**Marius (12:03):** sure!

**Cosette (12:05):** Can you give Eponine my number?

**Marius (12:15):** yeah, I can when I see her again l8r

**Cosette (12:16):** Thanks!

\--

Cosette felt silly about it, but she waited eagerly for a text. She got three while she was in Calculus and waited to check them ‘til afterward, but they were all from Grantaire. She was happy to hear from him, and glad his first day was also going well, but she’d been rather hoping it was Eponine.

For a moment, she thought she made the wrong call. Honestly, maybe Eponine was straight. Or she had a thing for Marius! Oh, that was probably it. Eponine was gorgeous and Marius was adorable, they’d make such a good pair.

Cosette couldn’t help but think that she and Eponine would make a good pair too. That was silly, though. They didn’t even know each other. Just because she thought they’d made some sort of connection didn’t mean they actually did.

By dinner time, she was over it. It hardly mattered if some stranger liked her; not when she had so much else to worry about. Worries like: who the hell was she going to eat with?

Cosette was friendly, and people seemed fine about approaching her, but an environment where she didn’t know a soul… Well, that was different. She didn’t have Grantaire by her side and her father at her back anymore. Here, she was anonymous.

She resigned herself to sitting alone, setting her tray of abysmal looking food down at a small, empty table. Then she did what she knew was guaranteed to cheer her up: she called her best friend. Grantaire picked up after only a moment.

“Cosette!”

“R!” she replied, though not quite as loud, unwilling to draw attention to herself. “How’s school?”

“It’s alright,” Grantaire answered, pausing to yawn. “Weird being far from home, but it’s… nice. My roommate’s cool.”

Cosette smiled and stabbed aimlessly at her salad. R was only a few hours away, but it felt like a thousand miles. “That’s good. It’s Joly, right? Didn’t he say in his emails that he’s pre-med? And gay?”

Grantaire snorted. “Yeah, but don’t get your hopes up. He’s adorable, but not my type. Besides, I just got here. I’m not looking for a date yet.”

“Mm, okay.” Cosette took a bite. “Haven’t met anyone, then? Girls? Boys?”

A pause, then hesitantly, “Well, there’s this really cute person in my 3D art class.”

“Yes! Do they have a name?”

“No, not yet. But you’ll love this…” He paused again for dramatic effect. “They were wearing a flower crown.”

Cosette giggled, earning a curious look from some girls a table over. “Day one and you have your eyes set on a cute art student. I’m almost jealous.”

R laughed, and there was a muffled voice in the background. “Joly says hello. Now, what about you? Is it better than high school yet? Lesbians everywhere?”

“Not yet,” she answered with a forlorn sigh. “I ran into a friend from orientation and he had a really hot friend with him… He gave her my number, but I don’t think she’ll text.”

“Straight or just rude?”

Cosette made a quiet humming noise. “I don’t know yet.”

\--

Cosette put the thoughts of Eponine and dating behind her, just trying to survive the first week of classes. By Friday, she had successfully befriended her roommate Musichetta and a few sophomore boys they met outside the library. Enjolras (the blonde) seemed a little intense, but his boyfriend (the one with the glasses) seemed nice enough. Courfeyrac, though, she got along with really well. He was funny and flirty and seemed to always be up for a good time.

Friday night, the three of them invited her and Musichetta to some frat party they were going to. Cosette almost decided not to go because she had a _ton_ of reading to do before Monday, but then she got a text from Marius.

**Marius (7:30):** hey, are you going to the alpha chi party 2nite??

**Cosette (7:32):** Thinking about it… I have a lot of homework :(

**Marius (7:33):** Ep said she was hoping u’d come

**Cosette (7:41):** I can try and make it

Maybe it was a little pathetic, but whatever. Eponine might be interested after all, and Cosette really wanted to see how this could pan out. She’d been out of the closet since she was 16, but small towns never had a ton of out gay youths, so she had yet to go on an actual date. She’d been kissed a time or two at parties, but never for real—never from someone who really wanted to kiss her.

She’d never been in love and, well, she was hoping to find out what that felt like.

\--

Cosette and Musichetta turned up the Ke$ha and got dolled up, the former going for a soft floral dress and that latter pulling out leather pants. They both curled their hair and did their makeup, eager to make their college social debut. It was just a frat party, but still _._ It was their _first_ frat party; that had to mean something.

The plan was to meet up with Enjolras, Combeferre, and Courfeyrac outside their dorm, but Cosette was surprised to see a fourth person with them.

“Marius?”

Marius, who had seemed rather caught up in a conversation with Courfeyrac, looked up with a smile. “Cosette! Ep’s already at the party, she keeps asking when you’re coming.”

Cosette couldn’t help but grin. “Really?”

Courfeyrac burst out laughing. “I should’ve guessed, oh my god. Eponine has been going on about some pretty blonde she met, and at a school of a million billion people, of course it’s Cosette.”

“She’s been talking about me?” she asked eagerly, blushing a little. “But she never texted.”

“Oh…” Marius rubbed at the back of his neck awkwardly. “I think I forgot to give her your number.”

Well. That was certainly better than Eponine not caring at all. Cosette felt the butterflies in her stomach kicking up a fuss as they made their way to the party, a long walk from their side of campus. She tried not to think about Eponine, or what she would look like, or if something might happen, if she might get laid tonight, if she even wanted that to happen—instead, she paid attention to the people around her. Enjolras and Combeferre were leading the way, walking close together, their hands brushing but not holding. They spoke in quiet voices, heads bent towards each other, and they were really, very cute. From what Cosette had gathered, Enjolras, Combeferre, and Courfeyrac had met in kindergarten and had all been inseparable since. She wasn’t sure when Enjolras and Combeferre had gotten together, but from the looks of it, it’s been a while.

Musichetta was texting someone on her phone, and when Cosette asked, she said it was a friend from home. Bossuet, she said his name was. They’d gone to prom together and she thought maybe they could date and fall in love, but college happened. He went to school an hour away and they decided not to try.

The most interesting thing, though, was Courfeyrac and Marius. They were in the middle, but they weren’t talking. Courf had an affectionate arm slung across Marius’ shoulders, and it would look all well and friendly if Marius wasn’t leaning into it so much. Cosette got a glimpse of his face looking up at Courfeyrac, and it was almost like there were stars in her eyes, and that… She hadn’t seen that coming, and it made her smile. They were awfully cute together, even if they didn’t know it yet, which she suspected they didn’t. Funny, she hadn’t even known they knew each other until ten minutes ago, and now she was hoping that they’d fall in love.

\--

When they finally got to the party, Cosette was glad she’d worn flats and not heels like Musichetta, who was just about ready to ditch them and find a nice couch to sit on. It was after eleven and the party was in full swing, frat boys and sorority girls and everyone else taking up every inch of the house. Cosette spotted a few familiar faces, a guy from her gov class and a girl from English, and was that her RA? Enjolras saw someone he knew, some muscley guy in a hoodie with the sleeves cut off, and introduced him as Bahorel. They were all in some social justice club that had yet to start having meetings this semester, but Cosette had promised to attend when they began.

Musichetta disappeared after a moment, and then before Cosette knew it, everyone but she and Marius had wandered off. Marius looked a little lost without Courfeyrac, but he still smiled at Cosette. “I guess we should go find drinks?”

Cosette nodded, following Marius around as they looked for a kitchen. She glanced around, looking at all the people, trying to spot Eponine in the crowd. “You said Eponine’s already here?” she asked nonchalantly, raising her voice over the pounding music. If she never heard _Turn Down For What_ again, it’d be too soon.

“Yeah, she’s here somewhere!” Marius yelled over his shoulder. They made it to the kitchen, which was slightly less packed. They both grabbed beers.

“So…” Cosette grinned suddenly, making Marius look nervous. “What’s up with you and Courf?”

The ginger went bright red, taking a long drink to stall. “Nothing’s up. Did it look like something was up?”

“You like him,” Cosette said slowly, enjoying the flustered look on Marius’ face. “It looks like he likes you too! Oh wait, are you exes or something? Or you don’t know if he’s into dudes?”

Marius shook his head. “No, it’s just—he doesn’t like me? I don’t think? He doesn’t seem like he does.”

“I think you should ask.”

“Ask what?” a voice chimed in. Cosette turned to look behind her, and—oh. Eponine looked just as gorgeous as before, if not more so. She was wearing a black dress and black tights, her hair loose around her shoulders. Her eyes were dark and her lips were red, just as before. Cosette knew she was staring, but Eponine only grinned.

“Nothing,” Marius responded quickly. Cosette snapped out of it, laughing.

“Marius is having trouble with his love life,” Cosette said simply, not giving anything away. Eponine snorted, moving to grab a beer and lean against the counter next to her.

“Marius,” the brunette said with an exasperated sigh. “I’m telling you, Courfeyrac wants you. Like, an embarrassing amount. Cosette just met us and even she knows.”

Marius blushed again; Cosette and Eponine grinned, their eyes meeting. They held each other’s gaze for a long moment, having some sort of unspoken conversation. Cosette could practically feel her heart racing in her chest and she didn’t even know why, she just knew that she never wanted to look away. Eponine was the one to break the stare, ducking her head and smiling a small smile. “What about you? Is there anyone you want?”

It was Cosette’s turn to blush, but she was never one to back down from a challenge. She held Eponine’s gaze and smirked. “There might be.”

\--

An hour or two later, after just standing in the kitchen and talking and talking and _talking_ , Eponine and Cosette were interrupted. Cosette had learned that Eponine had two younger siblings, lived off campus with a black cat, was a Sociology major, and really hated beer. Eponine, in turn, had learned about Cosette’s dad and his boyfriend, about Grantaire, about winning homecoming queen senior year, and a little about Musichetta. They were loathed to be dragged away by Courf and a slightly drunk Enjolras, but they followed anyway, soon finding themselves sitting in a circle on the floor. They spotted Marius across the room, and Cosette realized that she’d never even noticed him leave the kitchen.

“Truth or dare!” some random guy announced, to the laughter and applause of the assembled group. Eponine rolled her eyes and Cosette shared the sentiment, but she was willing to play along. They went around the circle—some girl twerked rather impressively, a guy chugged a beer, a different guy related the tale of his most recent sexual escapade, Combeferre gave Enjolras an awkward lap dance, a girl talked about her first kiss, a guy talked about his, Courfeyrac gave a strip tease (and _oh_ how Marius blushed), and it went on and on.

By the time it was her turn, Cosette was in a good mood and pleasantly buzzed, feeling just brave enough to pick dare. The darer (was this Bahorel from earlier or someone else?) was grinning as he thought on it. Finally, he came up with, “Make out with Eponine.”

Eponine laughed and Cosette giggled, but a challenge was a challenge, and kissing Eponine didn’t exactly seem like a hardship. They were sitting next to each other on the dirty carpet, already close, and it was so easy to lean in and slide her hand into the brunette’s soft curls and pull her closer and—when their lips met, Cosette closed her eyes. Eponine was soft and gentle and Cosette could swear there were actual, honest to god, fireworks going off in her head.

It couldn’t be love; they’d only just met, but… it felt pretty close.


End file.
